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bypass

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Etymology and origin of the English word bypass

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1848

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈbaɪpɑːs/[1]
  • US: /ˈbaɪpæs/[1]

Etymology

It was formed in English from by and pass,[2][3][4][5] originally from the verbal phrase.[3] Dictionary.com takes the noun as apparently a back-formation from by-passage.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small pipe that lets gas or steam pass around a closed valve or cock, for instance for a pilot light: 1848.[2][3][4] The verb, in the sense "to pass by", is implied in bypassed in 1823 according to Etymonline,[3] and Merriam-Webster dates a verb sense to 1736,[4] but the OED's verb is from 1886, meaning to furnish with a bypass.[2]

Semantic evolution

From the gasworks the word spread to electricity, an alternative path for current (1914),[2] and to roads: a road built to carry through traffic around a congested town is recorded from 1922, in the Daily Mail.[2][3] Figurative use of the noun dates from 1928, in a letter of T. E. Lawrence,[2][3] and the verb meaning to go round or avoid a place also from 1928;[2][3] its figurative sense, to ignore or get round a rule or person, follows in 1941.[2][3] In aeronautics, bypass engines are recorded from 1948.[2] In surgery the word named an alternative channel for the circulation of the blood during a heart operation from 1957, and a permanent new route around a blocked artery from 1964.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1823 – verb, to pass by (implied in bypassed).[3]
  • 1848 – a secondary pipe around a valve.[2][3]
  • 1914 – an alternative electrical path.[2]
  • 1922 – a road around a town.[2][3]
  • 1928 – verb, to go round, avoid; figurative noun.[2][3]
  • 1941 – verb, figuratively to get round.[2][3]
  • 1957 – a channel for blood during heart surgery.[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A road that carries traffic around a town or city centre rather than through it.
  2. A surgical operation that sends blood around a blocked artery, especially of the heart; also the new channel itself.
  3. A secondary pipe, channel or electrical circuit that lets a flow pass around a part of the main one.

Verb

  1. To go round a place rather than through it: The new road bypasses the village.
  2. To avoid or ignore a person, rule or procedure: They bypassed the committee and went straight to the director.
  3. To provide with a bypass, or send a fluid through one.

Word family

  • bypasser

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
Cite this entry

“Bypass.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bypass. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·